Archive for the By-the-book belief systems Category

The three corporate structured faith systems of western cultures are pretty much monuments that have been raised to spiritual paralysis. Being male-founded and male dominated the three by-the-book faith systems of western cultures bristle with masculine rigidity and combative schemes for seizing possession of the keys of Heaven. In other words, these are faith systems which counsel believers to will themselves to believe in certain attack strategies which influence the unthinking believers to perceive soul-threatening weaknesses within themselves.

This mode of operation which is used in these three western corporate style faith systems thereby deliberately and with forethought inject into the faithful seekers a subliminal lack of self-acceptance. When “sin” and hatreds of life’s many diversities are used as the pivotal points of spiritual understanding–and everyone is deemed to be stained with sin–self acceptance is made into a scapegoat sacrifice for that particular faith system. In any other human endeavor this would be regarded as a con-job.

Western faith systems are notorious for their rejection of spontaneity or allowance for any serious questioning of man-conceived dogmas. Once a person gives up their self-acceptance under such pressure there is cunningly installed within a seeker a self censuring impulse, and the believer has then been rendered divided within their awareness of what they feel themselves to be and an uneasy suggestion of unworthiness or even evil within their nature. A mind that is mesmerized by such “holy” propaganda, which asserts that their soul is contaminated with sin, has been purposely injected with negativity toward themselves. Self-acceptance is thus effectively sabotaged and the seed of doubt that was thus implanted leaves the believer incapable of living their life with a full degree of sincerity or tolerance with themselves or with others. Under such implied holy guidance all natural spiritual spontaneity gets smothered down. The greater “sin” then actually rests squarely within the faith system itself for intentionally short-circuiting the very creative energy that opens a person’s soul to cosmic consciousness.

The result is fundamentalism. Fundamentalism is more about hating the facts of material reality than it is any devotion to spiritual integrity. So how do their interpretation of moral rules allow for such hatred of God-approved variety and diversity of life?

One characteristic of a religious fanatic is that they seem to always wax with hatred toward a hell of a lot of things. Another characteristic is the pretense of conservatism, which they think grants them the freedom to attempt obstruction of other people’s rights. This, in turn, opens the door for attempting to compel their narrow views upon everyone. Racism, for example, is an ego boost for many faith system fanatics; and homophobia is another approved subject to practice spiritual injustice. It must be a terrible burden for fundamentalists to confront all the God-approved variety and diversity which defines the radiance of Creation and have to tell the Creator that he made a vulgar mess in such an endless assortment of life activities. That is ugly spiritual vanity, and spiritual vanity is far more soul destructive than physical vanity.

Knowledge and reason are seriously constrained when faith system representatives labor to impose preconceptions of any sort to hover over seekers interactions with others. In tightly structured faith systems, for example, seekers are indoctrinated and continuously conditioned with claims that it is only through their particular man-concocted faith system that one can attain the favoritism of the Creative Principle which they personify as God. But, curiously, the universe and nature do not reflect that alleged narrowly restrictive disposition in the extensive diversity and variety of life that Creative Power has formulated, made manifest and steadfastly maintains.

The creative, unifying force which is personified as “God” is too often imagined in biblical accounts to be mainly concerned with the dilemma of only one representation of the human species who dwelt in one small region on planet Earth, which just happened to be the author’s area of interest. Biblical tales bristle with hatreds and the focus rarely strays far from the differences and the dissimilar features and characteristics that give life its radiant range of creative representation. Such a narrow understanding of life and one’s spiritual significance in relation to the rest of the universe has resulted only in setting the stage for persistent and unnecessary conflicts.

Any man-concocted faith system which demands unquestioning obedience to its man-formulated practices is only fraudulent spirituality, for it has no sincere interest in teaching individuals how they may achieve personal spiritual ascendancy. And rarely do these strict faith systems provide straightforward answers for solving day-to-day needs. That is so because the objective of each system is to maintain unsupportable claims of special favor for the system’s believers and thereby manipulate as many persons as they can. The objective of any such faith system is to keep attention upon the system itself. Such indulgence inspires nothing higher than religious conceit, not reverence for the creative power which expresses its omnipotence through endless variety and diversity of life.

In every instance the approach of of any highly organized inflexible faith system is to always concentrate upon the system itself. Priests, preachers, ministers, rabbis, mullahs and the like do not really serve as spiritual teachers or guides, although that is what they imply, These corporate styled faith systems place stress upon man-invented rites, rituals, form, tradition, etc. with the implication that the Supreme Power of Creation which expresses itself through endlessly diverse ways nonetheless came to become highly prejudiced toward what it made manifest as defined life forms. As a result these regimented faith systems are noteworthy for the spiritual void that they impose. That is because each “faith” system has been designed and is marketed solely to gratify a seeker’s ego with a pretense of exclusivity. All other similarly conducted faith systems are then dismissed as “godless.” The blessings gained for mankind from such stifling orthodoxy are reflected in a world in constant chaos.

This may sound strange, an atheist mulling over what is taught as prayer in man-contrived faith systems. But what organized faith systems have claimed as their exclusive territory is actually a perverse perception of a principle of Creation. Most of what man-concocted faith systems teach and practice as prayer procedure amounts to little more than a theatrical indulgence which is performed to elicit attention from an imagined being who exists in some outer limit domain. That amounts to little more than superstitious indulgence and openly reveals that there is little familiarity in regard to man’s inherent and constant connection with the creation energies which surrounds everything which we speak of as Creation.

An overview of the world’s faith systems shows that each consistently struggle through their self-made labyrinths of theology, rites, ritual, dogmas and assertions of exclusivity with heaven. With these they have lost focus on the underlying principles of Creation’s energy which continually activates into all manifested forms. No one can pray effectively if the principles which are continuously active as Creation are not recognized and utilized, for one’s awareness of self can only direct and receive in proportion to how they attune themselves to the fundamental “laws” which activate the universe and all that is in it.

For a moment consider the brain. The brain of each individual is assembled from a narrow spectrum of genetic material. The physical body is itself composed of only about one hundred thousand genes. This is a relatively small amount, and yet it is from this modest amount of genes that the brain is forged, and astoundingly there are in excess of one hundred trillion-trillion nerve cells. And each of these nerve cells may in turn form as many as ten thousand connections with its neighboring cells. It should be noted also that the physical brain is established and activated with polar fields.

Science has shown that human awareness functions through an interaction of seven levels of consciousness. The scientific classification of the levels of consciousness show a remarkable similarity to the seven primary energy dimensions of Creation as was once taught in extreme antiquity: lessons which used the observable heavens as background to illustrate its instructions. Those lessons became suspiciously lost, or suppressed, or destroyed by factions that sought to exercise authority over masses of people. The recognition by modern science of the seven levels of consciousness presents strong evidence that the aware consciousness of every individual retains a link into that power which is the fountainhead of Creation. What that means is that by heritage every person therefore possesses the right of consciousness–which is to say that each individual has the “divine” right to draw upon that unlimited power around them to define themselves.

Bringing the seven levels of consciousness into harmony with Creation’s energies is what the practice called prayer should accomplish. Unfortunately organized faith systems do not identify with that Creation principle and therefore fail to teach followers that prayer fulfillment always abides by the same sequence of application as once taught in ancient lessons on Creation which explained how energies involve to manifest any definable energy configuration. This means that in order to accomplish a desired manifestation it is necessary to establish a harmonic field within the seven levels of personal consciousness which is a person’s true identity. This “law” of amassment through harmony is the generating factor in how prayers are answered. Any negative intent (greed, anger, envy, hatred, revenge, etc.) which is included in prayer energy automatically distorts the outcome. Such negatively framed prayers are offered up more to indulge one’s ego and therefore do little more than short circuit the connection into the universal creative powers.

This is not something that organized by-the-book faith systems acknowledge due in part to the fact that those regimented systems were invented, built and are maintained by the faith system’s self-serving dogmatism. Consequently, they are incapable of teaching proper prayer technique which requires the personal vibratory attunement which can be achieved only by putting aside all the trappings employed for the purpose of exercising worldly influence. Thus one of the saddest things about organized faith systems is that they teach their seekers to look for answers to personal questions outside themselves. That practice ignores the power of the Infinite Presence which is not only around all things but is also within ourselves and all things. Ego-centeredness, as religious systems teach as prayer, fails to recognize and address the very power which is the true means of finding answers to personal questions.

Organized faith systems encourage group involvement. Indeed faith systems cannot survive without it. But attempting to blend the scattered thoughts of a congregation is often counter productive for it is only within each individual self that the universe responds. This truth is subtly admitted in holy accounts where the lead characters of various holy story lines retreat to some isolated place (wilderness, mountain, cave, etc.) to commune with universal principles and thereby bring about desired change. Successful prayer requires assessment of purpose–which is better achieved in the deeper process of meditation. When, for example, followers of a faith system are gathered together to pray for finances for a new church, synagogue, temple, etc. the purpose is not exactly concerned with responsible coexistence with the world, but has to do only with their own outer display of a regimented style of belief. The altar that they thus raise (and every such structure is figuratively an altar) through such manipulation therefore satisfies only their own spiritual vanity and has no genuine noninterventionist value to advance every being’s aware consciousness.

The potentiality for any positive development is always present within the unlimited Source, and how that power is edited by each person’s self-aware consciousness determines the circumstances which accompany any manifestations in our experience. There is always a response from universal powers when one attunes themselves to the principles which are constantly active as Creation. The shaping factor of any prayer is always determined by the limitations which personal purpose imposes. Thus any un-harmonious self indulgent emotions determines the quality of what becomes manifest. There can be no disguising of one’s true purpose from the inner universe of one’s being (Infinite Presence), and so the manner in which prayers are “answered” always mirrors the quality of the person’s ultimate purpose.

Prescribed or mandatory prayers imposed by a by-the-book faith system sometimes seemingly go unanswered, and this is largely due to the congregation’s scattered and unchecked thoughts of material advantages. Ultimately, every thought which an individual entertains is much like a rudimentary prayer, for even a passing thought exerts a degree of influence upon what is experienced as life, for the habit patterns of your thoughts mirrors what you expect. To pray for health, for example, while lamenting how unhealthy the body feels is accepted by the unlimited creative energy pulsing through the universe as the expectation of that condition. This simply reaffirms the Creation principle which holy world openly states that like must reproduce in its own likeness (Genesis -:

Sin, the alleged estrangement from God due to transgressing God’s “known will,” is the age-old whip of faith system chieftains. The notion that some god could be directly or inadvertently offended and thus bring about disastrous consequences seemed plausible in the hostile conditions of primal forests or in the depths of gloomy caves. That trait, born of fear of the unknown, is apparently cast into the DNA of animate life as a self-preserving attribute. That natural preservation trait, unfortunately, can be mined like a vein of gold for crafty schemers.

By chapter three in the holy book of Genesis, after the the compressed account of Creation is dispensed with, the plot jumps rapidly into the introduction of sin with Eve nibbling fruit from the do-not-touch Tree of Knowledge. For this alleged sinful incident not only was Eve, Adam and the serpent given a death sentence, but all life forms were condemned to experience God’s continuous indulgence vengeance. Sin was then established as a vicious circle in Genesis 4:7 with God allegedly saying to Adam and Eve’s son Cain, “If thous doest well, shalt not thou be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.” Cain, not understanding the concept of sin–perhaps because mom, Eve, had already tainted all life with “original sin” anyway–by the very next verse (8) Cain kills his brother Abel. Now that is divine speed writing! But God’s earlier condemning judgement upon what he considered to be sin was impulsively made amendable by God setting a protective mark upon Cain’s head. Thus did “sin” become incorporated into “faith” and become the meal ticket for the CEOs in the business of belief.

The great pivotal moment in “sin history,” according to 8th century BCE priest-interpreted accounts, hinges upon the Lord’s alleged call for Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering to receive special blessings. In Jewish recognition of this momentous event of Abraham’s unquestioning obedience is celebrated with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Abraham’s devotion is held as representative of their faith system’s especial characteristics even through Judaism as such did not exist in that distant timeframe. Never fully explained is why the son Isaac was to be sacrificed:to stimulate Abraham’s greed? It is never clearly said why God would have asked for such a senseless act. Some devotees have suggested that it was simply a test. But if God is omniscient (all-knowing) what could God be uncertain about? As this story is depicted by priest authors, neither God nor Abraham inspire any spiritual admiration. And why would Isaac be such a spineless wimp? For some devotees Isaac is held to be the first Jewish martyr (again ignore the fact that Judaism as such did not exist in that timeframe). Functionally there can be only one purpose for this tale: since God, the personification of the Life Principle, would never condone such child abuse the story’s purpose in the priest-written texts is aimed to encourage submission and obedience of seekers to the priest-manufactured faith.

In the later priest-written book of Leviticus (18:6-7), the priestly lust for control is highlighted in the supposed shifting of sin guilt–with God’s okay–by transmitting personal guilt to some hapless victim. The alleged God-approved instructions read, “And he (a priest) shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the door of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats: one for the Lord, and the other for Azazel.” We should note that the word “tent” in prehistory cultures was an occult reference to primordial energies of Creation which are to passed over into manifestation as matter forms. To retain their authority over the seekers the priests indulged themselves in the slaughter of one goat on the Temple altar, and sent the other ill fated goat into the wilds to be torn apart by predators. Or, depending on site location, the other goat was hurled by priests from a cliff to be cruelly dashed upon the jagged rocks below. The alleged reason for hurling the goat from a cliff? Supposedly Azazel was imprisoned beneath the cliff.

Nowhere is it ever explained in Hebrew or Jewish texts why the “Lord”–a self-admitted jealous god–would ever sanction such a custom of equal offerings, for by presenting identical offerings it is openly admitted that Azazel was indeed considered the equal to God. Consider also that the name Azazel is said to mean “God strengthens,” so the implication seems to be that one aspect of the creative Source, active as the Life Principle, cannot be Creative without the other (positive/negative generation). What this tale inadvertently reveals is that the Source-power cannot create and bring anything into existence except through a process of positive/negative exchange and interaction.

Even in this twenty-first century of space flights and instantaneous communications around the planet there are still Orthodox Jews who practice the bloody ritual of slaughtering hapless animal life (such as chickens) in an appeal to God for personal forgiveness. In Los Angeles, California, for example, there are Orthodox Jews who seek to sidestep ethical responsibility and save themselves from sin through victimizing defenseless animal life.

The Roman Empire “fathers” and “saints” of Christianity (such as Paul, Jerome, Augustine, etc.) enthusiastically took up the sin ensnarement tactic. As reworked by the “fathers” this aided the submit-and-obey features of the faith by relating how Jesus was sacrificed for the sins of the world (the Roman world). On that alleged occasion (as with Abraham) God did not provide any reasonable explanation for substituting Jesus for the sake of the world’s indulgence in sin. But in accepted texts, God so loved the world that he would allow it to sidestep immoral conduct by permitting his “only begotten son” to be sacrificed. It seems a rather bizarre game move if God hoped it would teach that everyone must stand responsible for their own acts if they are to evolve.

Why should this implied God-approved torture and slaying of his own beloved son inspire the world with any spiritual love or trust? Such a concept hinges upon a pre-Christian concept among societies of the Near and Mid East in which no rite was seen to hold more august power with the people than the sacrifice of the king or the king’s son for redemption of the king’s people. That superstition was impressed upon Roman Empire culture around 60 BCE when the Roman general Pompey (106-48 BCE) captured Jerusalem, which was then weakened due to a power struggle between two sons of King Aristobulus. Pompey installed one of the king’s sons–Hyreau–as high priest and took the other son, Antigonus (along with his sons), to Rome as displays of triumph. Eventually, however, it was Antigonus who became priest-king, and in his short reign before being taken by Marc Antony in 37 BCE he had slain his own two sons–presumably as sacrifice for the welfare of his people. The whole mystery ritual of redemption through such sacrifice then seemed to the Jews to have been played out again when Antigonus himself was publicly scourged, then bound to the stake, and then beheaded. The Jews accepted that his extermination was to redeem his people. It was this spiritual influence that colored the writings of Christianity’s early authors.

So the notion of using a scapegoat for dodging sin, as first promoted in the priest-written book of Leviticus, is subtly upheld throughout holy texts. Unfortunately, the only thing that is set up for the faithful in using a substitute for personal guilty is that they will always seek out ways to sidestep personal responsibility for themselves. However, passing the blame to another invokes only the illusion that such “sacrifice” frees one to fly to Heaven on a comfortable mattress of lies. Makes one wonder if such a Heaven can be trusted.

Genuine history shows that each of the three sister monotheistic faith systems of western cultures were launched as an insurrectionary movement against an established social order which had tended to honor a broad based tolerance for diverse spiritual practices. The hard-line monotheistic faith systems which dominate western cultures today expanded and have maintained their power hold only by indoctrination practices which have included perceptible intimidation tactics and even terrorism (such as is brutally demonstrated by Muslim extremists this day). The underlying fact is that the whole purpose of monotheistic practice was to establish a closed “spiritual” environment in which each person is doggedly conditioned to submit and obey an upper echelon of the system’s hierarchy.

The methods of any by-the-book faith system’s empowerment is to inject subconscious fear of godly retribution by withholding any promise of attaining a glorious afterlife if any seeker fails to obey the faith system’s representative. With that improvable assertion of a paradisical afterlife for the alleged favorites of God the “flock” is persuaded to sheepishly submit and obey. To keep faith system discipline the contention is put forth that the all-enfolding Life Principle (personified as “God”) favors them alone. However, that assertion is the very antithesis of spiritual freedom, inner peace, tolerance, compassion, fairness, justice, ethics, morality, and all other true qualities which elevate spirit into an evolved state of existence.

As a consequence the formalized by-the-book religions that are today presented to us as spiritual guidance are faith systems which are man-constructed and characterized by constant arguments over artificial objectives, empty symbols, phony prophets, shallow judgments of others, prejudices over superficial and pompous ritualism which intentionally keep seekers blind to our interrelationship to all the rest of the universe. What this shows is that man-made faith systems are essentially geared to regulate material greed and self-promotional events, not to guide seekers into personal attuning with Creation’s forces. When man-composed “holy word” texts are primarily assertions about godly nit-picking and jealousy, accounts of wars, invasions, killings and similar irreverent acts toward interrelated entities something is tragically inappropriate for authentic spiritual enlightenment. Certainly the glorification of such provoked conflicts with life’s intended diversity and variety only encourage the practices of prejudice and self indulgence, and should not be held as the foundation of ethical/moral attitude for social interchange.

Only in fairly recent times has the means been established to provide the capability to check the reliability and truthfulness of many “holy word” accounts. That painstaking science is biblical archaeology. For well over a century of digs throughout Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon there have been uncovered factual details of everyday life during the timeframes and events that make up the bulk of Hebrew Scriptures. The discoveries have often stunned and dismayed the archaeologists, and the implications have horrified those who want to believe that the books thought of as “holy word” were God’s true revealed word. The truth that is exposed is that the books of Scriptures were not even codified until the 8th/7th century BCE—or generations after the alleged events. And the reason for that labor of codifying such works was the political crisis which loomed over Judah in the timeframe following the fall of the kingdom of Israel to the north which had fallen to Assyria. Thus the origins and purpose for writing the stories of “God’s chosen ones” have to be reassessed with an eye kept upon the political crises that motivated them.

Likewise the New Testament, composed within the Roman Empire timeframe, should be reassessed with an eye on the political crisis that the Jewish fanatics in Palestine presented to the Empire. During the Roman occupation of Palestine the Jews pointed to their priest-written “holy” works as proof that they were answerable only to God and therefore the Roman Empire had not authority over them. That belligerent attitude of exclusivity with the Creator, not surprisingly, brought the Jews into constant friction with the Roman Empire and that characteristic is still at the heart of Judaism.

In assessing the “holy books” of western culture faith systems it should also be remembered that the Arab region had no prophet or written work to unite them in collective belligerence until the timeframe of Mohammad (570-632 CE). The fundamental tenets of Islam are: 1) There is but one God (Allah); 2) Man must submit and obey Allah [as determined by select men]; 3) The world will end with a great judgement. These tenets have direct and undeniable association with Judaic and Christian system beliefs–which Mohammad just happened to have been exposed to during his many caravan travels.

Lost in these by-the-book faith systems’ contrived rituals, unfortunately, is any means of perceiving one’s own personal spiritual alignment with the highest essences which are the foundation of our real self. The exploration of our inner self with the motivation to establish meaningful balance with nature and the universe is not a feature of any of the three heavily regimented faith systems of the western world. Everything remains focused on the faith systems themselves, which subconsciously suggests to seekers that the individual is not of any particular importance to an imagined human-like deity. Nothing in this form of faith system commerce is even suggestive of addressing the actual spiritual qualities which are inherent within every being. Instead every seeker is instructed to submit and obey their man-written holy book instructions but are not shown any means of opening themselves for the experience of true enlightenment. The difference between practicing a religion and making oneself open for spiritual vitality is as different as taking or receiving. If the emphasis is on ideology and ritual, then it is just religion, for religious practice can only take its authority from those who relinquish their spiritual energy to it. On the other hand, that essential spiritual quality which is the essence of each personal identity can align with Cosmic Conscience only by achieving a reflective state of consciousness, for what we term “spirit” is itself a reflective component of that higher Creative Conscience. If personal attention is grounded in what is nothing more than a theatrical performance then the path into the higher state of spiritual awareness remains blocked.

To be blunt; Aperson’s genuine spiritual evolution begins to malfunction as soon as exterior authority is imposed upon it.

These website postings have often referred to ancient lessons which concerned Creation/cosmology and life purpose, and those prehistory lessons were illustrated by using the universe itself as background. There, emblazoned upon the infinity of space, groups of stars (constellations) were used to illustrate the lessons. That prehistory means of instruction was not corrupted with any pretentious claims that universal truths were accessible only through some regimented, club-like membership-only faith system. There was then no merchandising of our spiritual connection into that higher power: there were no claims of a monopoly on universal truths. Unlike today’s by-the-book faiths those teachings did not distinguish themselves through hostile competition for material gain. Mankind must awaken to the fact that there can be no expansion or attainment of spiritual enlightenment from corporate-style by-the-book faith systems when those systems are demonstratively superficial in the universe as a whole, and are too implausible and unnatural to technological cultures on the smaller scale. Clearly what humankind is desperately in need of today is not the pretense of faith system exclusivity but a new dimension of consciousness.